12 Photos Which Prove That Northern Mexico is the Real Wild West

Northern Mexico, which broadly consists of the states of Sonora, Durango, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León and Zacatecas, as well as the Baja Peninsula, is often roundly overlooked by visitors to Mexico, who instead beeline for Mexico City and the Riviera Maya. However, there’s plenty worth seeing in here, including landscapes that could be ripped straight from a Western; with that in mind, here are just 12 photos which prove Northern Mexico is the real wild west.

Expansive shots of arid desert plains dotted with a cactus or two serve as common backdrops in Westerns (films inspired by the historic Old West). In Northern Mexico these dry and dusty landscapes are no soundstage though, they’re real!

Rundown or abandoned buildings also sometimes made an appearance in the onscreen depictions of the Old West, and deserted edifices reminiscent of the Wild West can still be seen to this day across Northern Mexico.

Railroads and their construction were also regular plot features in Westerns, so it’s appropriate that Northern Mexico – more specifically, the state of Chihuahua – is sliced almost in half by the only commercial passenger train in Mexico.